Quote

U.S. Customs and Border Protection wants to start collecting “information associated with your online presence” from travelers from countries eligible for a visa waiver, including much of Europe and a handful of other countries. Earlier this summer, the agency proposed including a field on certain customs forms for “provider/platform” and “social media identifier,” making headlines in the international press. If approved by the Office of Management and Budget, the change could take effect as soon as December.

 

https://theintercept.com/2016/10/21/the-u-s-government-wants-to-read-travelers-tweets-before-letting-them-in/

The number of visitors will plunge if they do this. I will be watching with interest to see how it plays out.

another "land  of  the  free"................... moment whilst i just type  about the size  of US  immigrations officers  knobs

3 hours ago, ukrules said:

The number of visitors will plunge if they do this. I will be watching with interest to see how it plays out.

 

I don't think it will matter to tourists nor *others*

 

Online presence is not a law...none need to have one nor admit to having one....

 

As such another storm in a teacup as likely most will claim to not have a online account in some

fictitious name anyway

 

Add to that the DHS & NSA probably have easy access to anything we do within the borders ++ on cell phones or internet & what

is probably the largest no fly list in the world recently at 81k

These things are all already known....not liked mind you but known

Edited October 23, 20169 yr by mania

1 hour ago, mania said:

 

I don't think it will matter to tourists nor *others*

 

Online presence is not a law...none need to have one nor admit to having one....

 

As such another storm in a teacup as likely most will claim to not have a online account in some

fictitious name anyway

 

Add to that the DHS & NSA probably have easy access to anything we do within the borders ++ on cell phones or internet & what

is probably the largest no fly list in the world recently at 81k

These things are all already known....not liked mind you but known

 

Lying on an immigration form is a felony.. You will either be Jailed or barred from Entry into the States... maybe for life.
The DHS and NSA probably have a link to check Online presence of the passport name anyway... By Not answering you are sending up a Red flag !!!

CS

35 minutes ago, CosmicSurfer said:

 

Lying on an immigration form is a felony.. You will either be Jailed or barred from Entry into the States... maybe for life.
The DHS and NSA probably have a link to check Online presence of the passport name anyway... By Not answering you are sending up a Red flag !!!

CS

 

So your saying for instance that "CosmicSurfer" is tied to a passport name?

 

You could be right & perhaps I give folks too much credit to not be known by actual facts online & linked to passport numbers etc.

 

Edited October 23, 20169 yr by mania

1 hour ago, CosmicSurfer said:

 

Lying on an immigration form is a felony.. You will either be Jailed or barred from Entry into the States... maybe for life.
The DHS and NSA probably have a link to check Online presence of the passport name anyway... By Not answering you are sending up a Red flag !!!

CS

like  this..............well sort  of

2 hours ago, mania said:

 

So your saying for instance that "CosmicSurfer" is tied to a passport name?

 

You could be right & perhaps I give folks too much credit to not be known by actual facts online & linked to passport numbers etc.

 

The databases and inner joins or cross referencing are trivial to do in this day and age.  The size of the database long ago stopped being an issue, due to the speed and performance of computers.  The only problems now are populating, updating, and maintaining the databases, and then disseminating the information and using it properly. 

3 hours ago, mania said:

 

So your saying for instance that "CosmicSurfer" is tied to a passport name?

 

You could be right & perhaps I give folks too much credit to not be known by actual facts online & linked to passport numbers etc.

 

 No... It  is not People that get the credit... It is the intrusive power and loss of privacy of the New US police state that has been constructed since 9/11 ... My "screen name" on ThaiVisa does Not protect me when ThaiVisa Registration servers can be hacked to reveal my real name and Email address... the same with Facebook etc... and Yahoo just recently admitted having an Open Door data policy to the NSA!!

1 minute ago, CosmicSurfer said:

 No... It  is not People that get the credit... It is the intrusive power and loss of privacy of the New US police state that has been constructed since 9/11 ... My "screen name" on ThaiVisa does Not protect me when ThaiVisa Registration servers can be hacked to reveal my real name and Email address... the same with Facebook etc... and Yahoo just recently admitted having an Open Door data policy to the NSA!!

 

Hey no argument from me about intrusiveness

 

But again what I meant is perhaps I gave people (meaning internet users) too much credit on knowing what goes where & why

Same for you...regarding what your saying here about your "real name" etc

 

It is a choice folks have to make. Yes your either on it or not PERIOD as a real person

If you are as you say using real info to register etc  then you have given up all rights to privacy because as you just said...you know it is this way

You want facebook to have pics of you& yours then you have made the choice...Sucks yes I agree but we did have the choice to not play

4 hours ago, CosmicSurfer said:

 

Lying on an immigration form is a felony.. You will either be Jailed or barred from Entry into the States... maybe for life.
The DHS and NSA probably have a link to check Online presence of the passport name anyway... By Not answering you are sending up a Red flag !!!

CS

I guess I am buggered then. If they do a google search on my name, they won't find anything... deadly suspicious eh? I can feel (yet another) secondary inspection coming on.

Take a few hours and go watch the Oliver Stone movie  Snowden. You'll see how it all works.

 

While it takes big bucks and resources to develop these data collection resources, once completed they are easy to adopt. While  many here think of Thai immigration akin to the Keystone Cops... I'd venture to say they are adopting the protocols the US or China has developed over the years.